LOTS OF PICTURES!

OK so these are in reverse order of occurrence. This is Cannens 1st B-Day. We were flying in on his actual birthday, so we celebrated on Sunday afternoon. He was a fan of the chocolate cake. He paid no attention to our laughing at him. He was in his own chocolate reality!

He knew exactly what to do when it came to the presents! Christmas should be fun.

Aden with his cousins at the cabin in UT. He was sad to say goodbye. They had so much fun and played so good together. Much better than when he was a toddler and bit the same cousin about 20 times when we visited 4 or so years ago!!!

It actually snowed while we were there. Aden said a prayer for snow at dinner time and a few hours later it snowed. Unfortunately. I didn't get any pics of him playing in it. My mom was giggling as she told me how Aden exclaimed he was going to make his first snow angel. Then he laid down in the sand box and started flapping his arms. What a funny head!

Thanksgiving at the cabin. I was pretty busy taking care of the little ones, so this is the only picture I got of the whole event. It was fun and yummy. You know all that good stuff.

Our visit to temple square. Nothing says nativity like a spiderman pose, don't ya think!

Up on the observation deck of the Church Office Bldg. Ryan kept freaking out when the kids would run to the window. It is a little weird being up that high.

Strike a pose Brynn.

Ahhhhh

BYU vs UTAH with the Mendenhalls
They were red, we were blue.


THE END

WHY IS THAT?

So we are leaving for our trip to UT tomorrow. SO it goes without saying, I have lots to do. So Why do Brynn and Cannen pick today to refuse naps?????
They are both sitting in thier cribs yapping away. I have too much to catch up on before we go. You know the drill. I want all of the laundry and bedding clean before we go, all the bathrooms scrubbed, the fridge cleaned out, because who wants to come home to a mess. Then the packing-clothes, gifts, airplane bags with busy stuff for the kids. It is crazy and near impossible to get anything at all done with Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum pulling everything out right behind me. So wish me luck. We'll be gone for a week. Can't wait. Aden woke up at 5:oo this morning because he thought we were leaving today. He is so excited to go to my parents cabin. I asked why and he said because there are guns (b.b.) and video games and fire. Sounds like a 6 year olds dream come true. I'll take some pictures, so you can get a feel for what it is like. The cabin is huge, but gets pretty crowded when you put 60 or so people in it!!!!
p.s. Burnside's, what happend to your blog??

Happy B-Day Brynn E.

She is now 4! Is it just me or does time go faster and faster the more kids you have ands the older they get? This last year seems to have gone the fastest for sure! Brynn has made some great progress. We are so excited for accomplishments. Her teacher informed me that she can now open the door to leave the classroom by herself. While we are all so proud of her for this, I know the teachers are going to have fun keeping her distracted and in the classroom! She has her first field trip with the school next week to Old McDonald's farm. I am anxious to see how she does. I have no doubt she will have tons of fun as she LOVES to be outside. I just know she will be all over the place.

We are getting excited to go the UT for Thanksgiving. Aden is hoping for snow once again. I hope it works out for him, seeing as we only get to visit every other year or so.

Cannen is battling a touch on pneumonia right now. Poor kido has to do albuterol with a nebulizer and he hates it. He fight and fights until he realizes he doesn't have a choice and then he just sits there and hums while I song him primary songs. I can't believe he'll be one next month!

Brynn had fun "blowing" out her candles. We practiced and she almost got it, but then decided she was going to lick the wick instead, so I hurried and blew it out for her. We had pumpkin cobbler--yummy!

Hope everyone has fun and stays safe on Halloween! Over and out.

Pics

Ahhh. They really do love each other!

Entertaining ourselves without electricity. I remember doing these little "shows" when I was a kid. Aden thought it was so funny. Mostly he just giggled.

Aden's hurricane Party. He turned 6 on the 17th . We still didn't have power. Luckily Ryan scored some blue crisco covered cupcakes at the grocery store. Yum-can't be too picky when the pickins are slim, right? We also found a Burger King open 15 miles or so away. It wasn't the Chuck E Cheese party we were planning, but it turned out OK and he didn't seem the least bit disappointed. He is such a fun, sweet kido.

Just a taste of what was going on here. This Ryan's moms house. The pictures don't really give you the full effect. You have to multiply what you are seeing to every house in almost every neighborhood. It was a mess. Things are still not completely cleaned up.

These guys had 2 trees inside there house.

Once again. This is the only time we have been happy that all the trees were taken down to build our neighborhood.

All in all we are doing great. We are getting excited for our upcoming trip to UT for Thanksgiving. It will be here before ya know it. Nothing else too exciting going down.

Sweet Silence

Silence for the first time in 2 weeks. No humming of generators permeating the neighborhood. Just quiet. Love it. We have power as of 2:00 this afternoon. We are enjoying the A/C! I have some pics of some of the destruction here. Ryan's mom's street looked liked a war zone and is still far from being back to normal. We never thought we would be happy that we did not have trees. We live in a new neighborhood where the builder just happened to wipe out the forest and for that we are grateful, just this once. I think trees were the main weapon of destruction in our area. Trees everywhere. Across the street, in houses, ripping up entire yards. These are huge trees. 100 footers. I'll post pictures ASAP. Right now we are enjoying the quiet. Thanks for the good thoughts!

Our Status

As a quick note, we're are ok after the storm. There has been, however, quite a bit of destruction in our area and it will be sometime before things are cleaned up. Our biggest issue is not having electricity, thank goodness for wireless connections!! Anyhow, we look forward to things getting back to normal.

THE END OF THE WORLD!

Or so it would seem at Walmart this morning. I went to pick up diapers and encountered the chaos that is ensuing. It was the same three years ago with Rita. People running around with carts full of water and Progresso Soup. Thank goodness for food storage! I have to admit the feeling of mass panic is a bit contagious though. I grabbed a case of the very quickly disappearing water as well.
There are a bunch of counties issuing mandatory evacuations. We are not in that category. We are inland enough that our major concerns are winds. We are expected to get 75-100 mph winds in our area. There is also the worry of flooding if the storm "rests" too long in our area dumping rain. Our power lines are underground so we are hoping power outage for us will be minimal. Anyways we are ready to leave if we have to. The 72 hours kits will be in the car ready to roll.
We evacuated for the last storm that was projected to come our way (Rita). But only because we got a call from our High Priest group leader telling us that the Stake President wanted anyone who could leave to go. It was crazy on the roads. I think it was a "practice round". And sent the message to be prepared to all of us!
Hope everyone else is experiencing some nice weather in their own neck of the woods. I heard is was nice and cool in UT. Lucky ducks.

Pics

Aden meeting his classmates

Brynn back to class.

Cannen at the Aqaurium. Love the chubby cheek smiles!

My two monkeys at the Aquarium.

A rare pic to have them both smiling while in the stroller. Typically one of them is pulling on the others hair or scratching faces!

Big Day

Today was the first day of school!!! I know that I haven't been the best of mommies when it comes to blogging important events, but I didn't want to miss this one. Even thought it is way past my bed time and my eyes are getting heavy I had to mark the day we sent our big boy out into the world. We have pics but our computer has been on the fritz, so I'll get them on here as soon as I can.
So Aden loved, loved. loved school. I was so relieved seeing as this was our conversation last week:
A: "where are we going on Monday?" (a game he plays he'll ask me for plans for a week at a time)
Me: "Your going to school!"
A: "What about the next day?"
Me: "Your going to school again!!"
A: looking worried " And the next day?"
Me: heehee "To school!"
A: " I don't want to go every day!"
Me: "Don't worry you only have like 20 or more years to go my son."

So I was happy to hear that he actually wants to go everyday now. I asked if his teacher was nice and he said no,she is really cool.

Brynn has a new teacher this year too. I was happy that she walked right in and let the teacher help her and everything. She is usually so nervous and cries when things are not in her routine.

Off to bed for momma. The bus comes at 7:05 for Brynn!

"I Love Everybody"

Aden's Turn

Aden had a fun week last week. He went to San Antonio with Ryan's mom and sister. He went to Sea World and loved it! They also went to Wonder World and saw animals and got to go through a cave. He gave us a good report. He says his favorite thing was the huge roller coaster with splashing water. We were surprised to hear this since he is usually a little timid about things like that. I guess he is getting older. It was great for him to get so much undivided attention. I worry about that with Brynn needing so much and Cannen being so little. So last week was all about him. He is trying to talk us into going back -tomorrow. I told him maybe next year when the other two are a little bigger!

Brynn had a visit with a neurologist last week as well. We are getting set up for another round of testing. He feels she might possibly have Retts Syndrome. She sure fits the criteria. It is a condition that is currently in the autistic spectrum, but they are trying to have it removed and listed as it's own condition. She will be tested for that and she will have another MRI and a spinal tap done.

We are loving the humidity! We went for a walk this morning and ended up making it around the block once before we were all dripping wet. mmmmm its great.

Funny

http://www.despair.com/
My favorite is the poster on failure!

New Background....

Bare with me--I'm trying to figure out how to rearrange a few things--Got this background from a web site I saw on Jessica's blog. Still needs some tweaking...All of my side stuff has moved to the bottom-not sure I like that.

Just look at that big smile. Ryan got to fulfill every little boys dream. He and a buddy got to play fireman at a job training. --You know just in case they are ever on a rig and need to put out an oil fire....wink, wink. He had a good time and has a new found respect for all those men and women in the world that suit up in the interest of our safety. He got some cool pictures too.

On the home front, I have been working quit a bit lately. It is the beginning of the summer and marks my busy time. All of the new staff at the Y (lifeguards, camp counselors, etc..) have to be CPR/First aid certified. I taught 6 classes last week for the Y and 4 classes for the Country club in the area. It was my first time working a "real job" on my own. Meaning not affiliated with the Y and not a friend. It was pretty good and a good way to make some good money fast. In case anyone is wanting to look into it. I never would have guessed you could make such good money teaching CPR!

The kids are both out of pre-school. And I am happy to report they both made good progress. And we got through it for the most part without incident. Every time I picked Aden up I would wait for his teacher to tell me that he told the class to pick up their damn toys. Or ask "where the hell is my show and tell". Two word I am afraid he has learned from his sometimes potty mouth momma. He also went through a phase were he asked about his penis all of the time. All of which he reserved for the privacy of our family. He is getting way too big and is so fun to talk with now. I can't believe he will be in kindergarten in a few months. Which is all day here. I'll miss him.

Brynn is making progress. I know I mentioned the new diet for her. We have also started some alternative therapies for her. She is drinking a Native American tea from www.ojibwatea.com. The owner called me after my initial order and talked to me about Brynn. She is a good soul and is very focused on helping people naturally. Especially the autistic community. We are also doing some acupressure type treatments called NAET. I try to explain it to people and they look at my like I have two heads. It is based on kinesiology, chiropractic and oriental medicine. We have seen good things so far and expect to see more. She can actually almost say book! It is more like oook (strong emphasis on the k). I always dreamed her first word would be mommy. But I'll take book!

Cannen is just cute.

Fun Times

Yesterday was a beautiful day in the Houston, TX area. So on a whim, we decided to take a drive to the beach. The kids had a blast. They LOVED the waves. Usually the water in the gulf is bath water warm and pretty nasty to play in. It was a nice a refreshing yesterday. I think Brynn loved the chill as much as much as anything. Aden is typically nervous and very careful around water ( I am afraid I have turned him into a bit of a paranoid little boy-what can I say, he my first and I was a paranoid first time mom). Yesterday, he was pretty brave -running out, chest deep to catch the waves. We are working on it. I hope to having him swimming this summer.

Cannen is still growing like a madman. He is so sweet and chubby. Lovin the squishy. Today he was wearing 12mnths clothes!!!! He is only 4 1/2 mnths!!! Slow down kido.

That is about it on our home front. Ryan is going to be out of town for half the week. Going to New Iberia. I thought he was leaving the country at first, but soon learned this was just 4 hours away in Louisiana.

Oh, we started Brynn on a special diet. We are having her eat a gluten and casein free diet. I know she hasn't been officially diagnosed as autistic. But I am sure she is in that realm. This diet has helped some kids with some of the same things she struggles with, so we are giving it a shot for 3 months. If it helps then forever. So prayers and positive thinking are appreciated!!!

Cheers

I'm pretty sure these two are related. Ryan now has two mini me's. I think the only feature our kids got from me was my dimple. They all have one on the right cheek-just like me. Pretty handsom boys if I do say so myself.

Ryan is out of town this week. The poor guy is slumin at the Venetian in Las Vegas for a conference. He called me at 9:30 this morning to let me know he was just getting out of bed and about to enjoy their gourmet breakfast buffet. I of course had been up for a good three hours with the kids, whith whom I enjoyed a lovely breakfast of Life cereal. Needless to say I will be taking a few hours of shopping time to myself when he gets back!

We are hitting the humidity pretty hard the last few days. A preview of the upcoming months. Uugh! The kids have all been a bit cranky. I think they are adjusting to the change and just don't know why they are so uncomfortable.

We all met some friends at McDonalds for lunch today. Man it is a job all on it's own getting those kids together , out the door and buckled in. Only to undo it all in 10 min. Thank goodness for good friends to help out. It is extra challenging with Brynn. Just imagine a big 3 year old with the mind of a 1 year old. I can't put her down until we are safely inside, because she wanders off so quickly. So I usually have her in one arm and the baby carrier in the other. I hate getting the double stroller out when we are just running in to a place. So I have to plan on getting everwhere early. Man I am glad I never had twins!!

I hope everyone has a great Easter. We already did a few egg hunts in the community and I am sick of kids (Aden) begging for candy all day long. So we will do quarters at home this year. Were planning on dinner at Ryan's mom's house. Should be a good time. Take care.

New Stuff

So Ryan and I were talking the other day about all of the changes we have gone through in the last year. He was approached by a reqruiter for an new job and after all has been said and done he accepted the position. It will be a great opportunity for him and there will be a lot of room for growth. He will be working for Parker Drilling in their HR. I am so proud of him. We know there has been some heavenly help involved and are very grateful. So as I mentioned before, we have had so many 'big' changes- New house, 2 new jobs in the last year, a new baby and two new cars. That might not seem like a lot to some people, but to us it has seemed like that since we have been married. We are ready to stay steady for awhile. We have also moved 5 times in the 6 years we have been married-one to a new state. Yikes.
I'm back in the work out groove. Got some baby weight to loose and I insist on doing it! It has been great for my mental health as well. I seem to get stuck in a depressing funk when I go without excersize for too long. Today I ran for the first time in a long time and am feeling pretty sore, not to sound sadistical, but I love it. Makes me feel like I accomplished something.
The kids are good. Brynn had a yucky case of the flu last week and missed an entire week of school. Luckily no one else seemed to catch it (knock on wood). She is walking wonderfully and we are really working on communication. We are trying to get her into a nuerologist, hoping for some answers.
Aden is doing well. He is growing up and starting to engage in more meaningful conversation. The other morning I made pancakes and as he sat down he said with his happy voice, "mmm, fresh pancakes." What 5 year old says fresh pancakes?? I should have him audition for IHOP.
Cannen is growing way too fast. The kid is 9 weeks old and wearing 9 month clothes! He is very aware now and loves to babble with you. It is the cutest thing. I love his smile.
Well that is our little update hope everyone is healthy and happy out there!!

pic update

A pic of Brynn, just because she is so cute!

A pic of Cannen in his blessing outfit. Grandma and Grandpa Spencer made it out for the big day! We are missing them already. They we had lots of fun and they built us a beautiful fence and landscaped or flower bed (pic's to come).

A pic of Aden at his preschool Christmas program. He practiced all week. The girl in the black shirt, Ashlee, is his "girlfriend".

A pic of Aden on his new bike from Santa.